Turn of the Master
by majesticmcold
Summary: AU one-shot. The Master and the Doctor had been friends all their lives, survived the Time War together, but what finally makes the Master snap? Implied Master/Ninth Doctor.


**This is an au that a friend of mine came up with. Essentially the Doctor and the Master remained friends their whole lives, survived the Time War and they traveled together for a while afterwards, but once Rose came on board, the Master got jealous and that's why he turned bad.**

* * *

'Doctor? Who's this?'

'This 'ere's Rose.' The Doctor, smiling that great toothy grin from big ear to big ear, reached down and slipped his hand through the blonde human's.

The Master's eyes narrowed.

'I don't understand.'

'What's not to understand?' The Doctor separated from Rose - hard to do, the Master noticed with venom, seeing as how the human was practically clinging to his leather sleeve - and sauntered over to the TARDIS console.

'I saved 'er from those shop dummies, she helped me back, I invited 'er along.'

The Master folded his arms. 'And you didn't think to ask me first?'

The Doctor looked up, eyeing the Master around the time rotor, which was pumping lazily. His blue eyes were wary.

'Doctor, if it's a 'assle, I'll just go -'

'You stay where you are.' The Doctor's commanding tones echoed through the console room. It sent a shiver through the Master, recalling the same tone - different voice, but the tone never changed - from the Time War.

The Time War. They had gone through that together. _Them_, no one else. It had been them from the beginning - the Doctor had been there to comfort him from the horrors he had heard from the Untempered Schism -

_'The drumming, Theta! It's not stopping, I can't get it out - please, oh Rassilon, it _hurts_, Theta -'_

_'Shh, it's alright, Koschei. I'm here for you.'_

- and as long as the Doctor was there, the drumming was bearable. And the Master had been there to comfort the Doctor as he – in the end, it would have always been him – had made the ultimate sacrifice to save the universe from the effects of the Time War.

They were the only two left. The Master and the Doctor, the last Time Lords, left to travel the universe, the laws of time and space their own to mould as they saw fit.

The Doctor's eyes never left the Master's. Through some sort of Time Lord link, a psychic connection of sorts, the same words reverberated through their minds. The last words of Davros, creator of the Daleks, cackling even as his Dalek fleet exploded in balls of flame around him.

_'Run, little Time Lords! Run!'_

It was _them. Only them. _Why couldn't the Doctor understand?

'Speak your mind,' the Doctor said softly in his northern accent.

'You're not the only passenger on this TARDIS, Doctor,' the Master said instantly, speaking as quiet as the Doctor.

'You got a problem with Rose?'

'Yes!' the Master replied bluntly. 'What if I don't want a stupid ape following us around?'

'Oi!' Rose cried out indignantly, but the Master took no notice.

The Doctor took his hands off the console and straightened, folding his arms in that aggressive stance the Master knew only too well.

'Stupid ape?'

'She'll get in the way,' the Master said dismissively.

'But no, don't you see! We could show 'er everything! Be a sort of … guide to the galaxy.'

'Oh, like that movie, right?' Rose spoke up, giving the Doctor a tongue-through-her-teeth grin that he returned.

The Master wanted to slap them both.

'And why would I want to do that?' The Master folded his arms as well.

The Doctor regarded the Master for a moment. 'What's gotten into you, Koschei?'

'Don't call me that,' the Master spat, suddenly hating everything about that "all planets have a north" accent, hating those careful blue eyes, that ridiculous grin, those big ears that the Master tugged on occasion as the Doctor made yet another coordination error –

'Koschei.'

'Stop!'

The Master's shout lingered long after the Master closed his mouth. He glared at the Doctor hotly.

'I'm not kicking 'er out,' the Doctor said, in that infuriatingly calm and reasonable voice of his. 'I promised 'er a trip, and that's what I'm gonna give 'er.'

The Master's eyes were reduced to slits. 'So that's it, is it? I never thought I'd see the day where you chose an _ape_ over me. Your old _friend._'

'I'm not – there's no need to – Koschei!'

The Doctor moved towards him, but the Master was already heading down the ramp. He shoved Rose brutally out of the way, and pulled open the door, striding angrily out into a dark and dirty alleyway. He disregarded the fact he had no idea where he was.

The drumming increased with every step away from the Doctor he took.

_Boom, boom, boom, boom._

'I'm not Koschei anymore, Doctor!'

_Boom, boom, boom, boom!_

The Master turned to see the human in the Doctor's embrace, moments after the Doctor had righted her from falling. The sight enraged him further.

'I'm the Master.'

_BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!_

It was that moment he decided he was going to make life – all of his lives – hard for the Doctor.

The Doctor and his precious _human_.

He would never forget this. Not as long as the drumming in his head remained.

And the Doctor would never forget it either. Through each and every regeneration that the Doctor had left, the Master would remind him of the very reasons why the Doctor should have gone through hell and back to make sure that the Master remained on his TARDIS.


End file.
